Mouse Uses Trackball to Navigate Quake 2-Inspired Virtual Maze

Princeton neuroscientists strapped a mouse onto a suspended ball and had it navigate a Quake 2-inspired virtual maze. This experiment was conducted “to study the individual neurons in the hippocampus that control motion.” Apparently it’s difficult to control and study the neurons of a mouse when it’s physically moving, and this method makes that easier. It may seem cruel, but I’m sure the mouse prefers it to dissection and skin cream testing. Why they didn’t use the millions of gamers who pay to do this is beyond me. Wired article has the details.